Sara Lefkowitz – Stress Reduction Strategies for Nurses: Revitalize Your Practice

Stress Reduction Strategies for Nurses: Revitalize Your Practice – Sara Lefkowitz

Plan to watch Sara Lefkowitz for this revitalizing workshop recording. Sara really understands nurses and the complexities of working in the healthcare environment. She has synthesized materials from important thought leaders in the fields of stress reduction, compassion and nursing to present to you powerful and useful tools to incorporate into your nursing practice.

Multiple demands, fast pace, change and complex situations are common in healthcare environments. This leads nurses to experience the acute and chronic effects of stress. During the stress reaction, the body is flooded with stress hormones. Sara will demonstrate exercises to calm the nervous system. The goal is to develop mindful RESPONSES to stressful events in place of harmful stress REACTIVITY. Mindful responses to stress will help you stay balanced and focused in the midst of a busy day and increase the effectiveness of your nursing practice.

Nurses work with people in crisis. We can become distressed and overwhelmed by other people’s trauma and illness. This contributes to burnout and compassion fatigue. Sara will teach you techniques to develop emotional boundaries and to work successfully with difficult emotions.

Patients and colleagues want to feel seen and heard. The skillful choice of words and good listening can turn potential conflict into collaboration. Learn effective mindful communication techniques.

Sara is confident that this workshop will help nurses regain their sense of vitality, purpose and desire to make a difference in the world. Enroll now for a life- and career-changing event!

1. Apply stress reduction strategies in your professional and personal life.
2. Explain the components that contribute to burnout.
3. Practice in-the-moment stress relief techniques including Four Square Breathing, Mindful Check-In and STOP.
4. Differentiate between toxic and healthy workplace environments.
5. Apply mindful communication techniques to patient care scenarios.
6. Evaluate new techniques to process difficult emotions.
7. Create a realistic self-care plan.

• Know your Stress: Naming your Top 5 External and Internal Stressors
  • Workplace Stressors: Workload, high acuity, code blue, demanding patients, abusive co-workers, lack of control, scheduling
  • Home Stressors: Relationships, family, care giving, household management
  • Life Stressors: Money, time, illness, aging, death
  • Internal Stressors: Anger, fear, worry, attitudes, memories
  • Recognizing your stress reactivity pattern: Are you a Fight, Flight or Freezer?
• Immediate Stress Relief
  • Learn and Practice Quick Stress Busters: Four Square Breathing, Recruiting the Senses, STOP
• Long-Term Stress Relief
  • The new brain research: Neuroplasticity
  • Hypervigilance and the overactive amygdala
  • Mindfulness and Compassion Meditation Practices
  • Yoga
  • Self-Care
• Nursing and Negative Stress Reaction Patterns
  • Burnout: Emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, and loss of personal efficacy
  • Rate yourself: Maslach Burnout Inventory
  • Compassion fatigue
  • Lateral violence: Disruptive, abusive, or inappropriate behavior between nurses
• Explore Mindfulness
  • Intention/Attention /Attitude
  • The present moment
  • Experience: Mindful eating
  • Mindful eating at work: Tips and techniques
• Focus and Concentration
  • Calming the mind
  • Mindfulness Attention Awareness Scale (MAAS)
  • Mindfulness and patient safety
  • Experience: Mindfulness of breathing
• Responding vs. Reacting to Stress
  • Stress reactivity habits
  • Experiential exercise: Stress awareness and stress release
  • Using awareness to ‘Center’ during workplace turmoil
• Caring and Compassion: Exploring the Heart of Healthcare
  • Job satisfaction and burnout
  • Self-compassion: Kindness, common humanity, and mindfulness
  • Rate yourself: Self-Compassion Scale
  • Compassion Meditation 1: To work with difficult feelings (judgment, blame, shame, doubt) towards yourself
  • Compassion Meditation 2: To cultivate greater compassion towards self and others
• Workplace Scenarios: Apply Mindful Communication
  • A patient’s family member wants to monopolize your time
  • You are overloaded and asked to take another admission
  • A colleague questions your clinical judgment
  • A patient is triggering unwelcome memories from your past
  • Today you are irritated by everyone at work
  • Working with an emotional spouse at the deathbed
• Stress and the Workplace
  • The Toxic Workplace: Overwork, Bullying, Blame and Burnout
  • The Healthy Workplace: Teamwork, Safety, Mentoring, Flourishing
  • Employee health and wellness programs
• Self-Care and Resiliency: Keys to a Sustainable Nursing Career
  • Stress reduction
  • Time management
  • Balance: Work to home transitions
  • Workplace wellness
  • Creating a self-care plan
• Teaching Stress Reduction Strategies to Patients and Families
  • Choosing appropriate techniques